Dispensing display stand



y 1958 J. R. DORMAN 2,841.343

DISPENSING DISPLAY STAND Filed D sc. 9, 1955 2 Sheets-;Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

fi ijwh Arron/ways.

y 1958 J. R. DORMAN 2.841.343

DISPENSING DISPLAY STAND Filed Dec. 9, 1955 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR.

Arroeusys.

Uited States Patent DISPENSING DISPLAY STAND Jack R. Dorman, Cincinnati, Ohio Application December 9, 1955, Serial No. 552,120

Claims. (Cl. 242-129.6)

This invention relates to dispensers and it is directed in particular to a dispenser for copper tubing, which tubing is wound upon a reel and mounted within the dispenser such that it may be seen readily for display purposes.

The dispenser is designed primarily to be mounted upon a counter and it contains one or more reels of tubing of different sizes. One of the main features of the invention is that the tubing, although it is provided initially in helical form, being wound upon the reel in this form, issues from the dispenser in linear or straight form, which form is the one in which it is most frequently used.

The invention also concerns the construction of the reels which are employed in the dispenser. In the preferred embodiment, the reels are mounted so that they are free to rotate. The tubing is withdrawn from each reel through a straightening guide which is positioned at the front of the dispenser where the tubing may be grasped conveniently and stripped off ofthe reel in any length desired. When the supply of tubing on the reel gets down to a point where there are just a few turns left upon it, there is a tendency for the turns of tubing on the reel to become loose upon the core of the reel and to become entangled by overlapping one another. In order to present an effective display, the coil should maintain a precisely wound relationship. Furthermore, where several ofthe coils become entangled, the tubing can be dented or collapsed when being stripped from'the reel through the straightening guide. The improved reels provided with the present dispenser are designed to prevent the coils from loosening and they maintain the precise alignment of the turns of the tubing down to the point where the very inner end of the coil of tubing leaves the reel.

Other features of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the drawings in which:

Figure l is a diagrammatic perspective view of a dispenser for copper tubing incorporating the principles of the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken through one of the reels, normal to the central axis thereof, showing the reel prior to the time that the copper tubing is wound thereon.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing the tensioning device which is provided at the core of the reel to prevent the tubing from becoming entangled.

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view taken laterally through a reel upon which a substantial amount of tubing is shown.

Figure 7 is a View similar to Figure 6 showing the reel with only a few turns of copper tubing thereon.

' reel received therein.

The dispenser may be made of sheet metal as shown; It comprises a substantially rectangular back panel 10, two side panels 1 111, a bottom 12 and a front which is designated generally by the numeral 13. The two side panels 11--11 slant downwardly from the back panel to the front of the dispenser in order to expose for display purposes a plurality of reels 14 upon which copper tubing 15 is 'wound. The back, sides and front of the dispenser may be made from one piece of sheet metal if desired. In the instance shown, the back panel projects above the side panels to provide a substantially large area for advertising material and other indicia. The two side panels are turned over at right angles from the back. In a similar manner the bottom 12 is turned over at a right angle to the back panel. The front of the dispenser is formed by turning the forward portion of the sheet metal bottom up at a right angle and then toward the rear on a slant paralleling the slant of the two side panels and then downwardly again toward the bottom. Where the lower end of the last mentioned part of the sheet metal meets the bottom, a flange 16 is turned over into parallelism with the bottom 12 and it may be secured to the bottom by means such as spot welding.

The front part of the dispenser thus constitutes a front wall 17, a rear wall 18 and a slanting cover 19 which with the bottom 12 provide a hollow, beam-like structure extending from one end of the dispenser to the other. At the respective opposite ends of the dispenser, the front wall 17 is turned over toward the rear at a right angle to provide a flange 25] which may be aflixed to the adjacent side panel by means such as Welding. In like fashion, the opposite ends of the cover portion 19 of the front of the dispenser may be turned over at a right angle to provide a flange or tab such as the one shown at 21 which also may be secured to side panel 11 by means such as welding.

The inside of the dispenser is divided into a plurality of compartments by means such as the partition walls 22. These partition walls match, in profile, the respective side panels 11-41, having the same slant to their exposed edges. The rear edge of each one of the partition walls may be turned over to provide a flange 23 which may be welded to the back wall 10. The front edge of each partition may also have a flange 24 turned over from it at a right angle, which flange may be welded or otherwise fastened to the rear wall 18 of the beam-like front 13 of the dispenser. A pair of mount brackets 25 is provided in each compartment. These brackets receive a shaft 26 and it will be noted that the respective shafts are disposed upon a common axis extending horizontally through the dispenser from one end to the other. The shafts may be made of any suitable material to rotatably support a reel 14. More specifically, each bracket comprises a substantially channel-shaped member having a web portion which is slotted as at 27 to removably receive the shaft 26. The side walls indicated at 28-28 respectively of each channel-shaped bracket have tabs turned therefrom in opposite directions to provide flanges 2929 which may be spot welded to the compartment wall. Each one of the compartments may be substantially identical in'construction including the brackets which are provided. The compartments difler from one another only in the distance between the walls which define them. Furthermore, it will be noted from Figure 3 that each compartment is roughly twice as wide as the The reason for this will be explained below.

The forward end of each compartment mounts a substantially funnel-shaped tubing guide 30 which is mounted within the beam-shaped forward end 13 of the dispenser. In each instance, the guide comprises a conical portion penser and a substantially cylindrical portion 32 which 7 opens at the front of the dispenser. Preferably, each I guide is made in one piece. The rear wall 18 and the front wall 11 both have apertures therein which are just suifieiently large to accommodate the respective outer diameters of the guide. The rearward conical portion of the guide is s waged over as at.33' against rear wall '18 and the forward end of the cylindrical part of the guide is swaged'over'as at 34 against front wall '17; to

lock the guide within the beam-like front structure.

The internal diameter of the cylindrical part 32 of the guide is appreciably larger than the outside diameter of the tubing which is threaded through it; Theguide thus does not serve as a swaging guide but rather it serves as .an aligning device through which; the tubing may be pulled by grasping the exposed end of the tubing. The guide, it will be noted, is located at a level which 7 is adjacent to the lower edge of the reelso that first turns at least of the copper tubing coming froma new reel leave the roll substantially in alignment with the guide. This, plus the straightening eifect imparted by the guide, plus the straight line pull on the tubing issuing from the guide causes the tubing to straighten out into linear form as it leaves the dispenser. To facilitate. the

issuance of the copper tubing it is highly recommended that the: tubing which is Wound on the reel be of the type referred to in the trade as dead annealed,- that is,

that it have little .or no flexibility. 'It. is found that the slight amount of cold working, which takes place in the tubing as it is being pulled from the dispenser gives the tubing the amount of rigidity required for its intended uses. Obviously, any. length oftnbing may be withdrawn from the dispenser at any one timeup to the limit of the supply carried by the reel. To facilitate measuring desired lengths of tubing, it is recommended that the tubing be marked in inches or in feet or a combination of both during its manufacture. It is also recommended 1 that thedisplay or dispenser have some means for mounting a tubing cutter upon it so that the cutter is handy for'cutting the tubing into desired lengths.

tensioner.

prevent entanglement of as in the loading of the feels, finedisk'is feasted t5 eipose the core at a side ther'of. Thestrip tensioniug device is then woundtightly around the core and it is fastened thereon undertensi on by means such as a strip of pressure sensitive tape 41. The pre-rolled copper tubing then may he slipped into place over the core The inside diameter of the roll of tubing must be substantially larger than the outside diameter of the secured tensioning device. Oncethe. roll of tubing is in place, the strip of adhesive tape 41 maybe snipped or torn from the tensioner to release it so that it tends to expand outwardly as shown in Figure 5. The

core thus actually is an expanding one which pushes the ribs on the tensioning device outwardly against the ove'r'one'another, the tensioner also moves the outer turns of tubing out toward the outer periphery of the reel. 7 Going now to Figured, it will; be seen that such expansion in the core presents the turn of' tubing being withdrawn through the guide into a more nearly straight line with the guide to' facilitatewithdrawal of the tubing through the guide.

As has been pointed out, the individual compartments are substantially twiceas wide as" the width of the re spective reels mounted within them. This permits each reel to move back and forth within its compartment as.

' the tubing is being stripped therefrom. Hence, as" shown in Figure 3, the reel is always aligned with respect to the guide in such a way that the turnof the tubing being stripped from the reel is directly in back ofthe center of the: guide. by permitting the'reel to move freely back Each reel 14 comprises a pair of. circular disks 35 having central apertures 3636 therein. The respective apertures receive a sleeve 37 which is of a size to fit loosely upon the shaft 26. The sleeve secured in place, following conventional'practices, by swaging over its opposite ends against the disksas shown in Figure 6. The core of each reel comprises a sheetmetal cylinder 38. This cylinder may have. a plurality of end tabs upon it which engage through appropriate apertures in the disks 35-35 to. secure the core in place. The core of each reel has a ten'sioning device 39 mounted upon it.

Each tensioning device consists of an enlongated strip of material which is just wide enough to fit 'between the two disks of the reel and long enough tomake sev-' eral. turns around cylinder 38. Each tensioning device has a plurality of ribs 40' which are formed; on one surface thereof. strip in parallelism with one another.

the extent that it tends to spring; outwardly after beingturns. of the tubing between ribs, seeFigures'6 a nd'7. Thus, in a display in which five'diiferent sizes of tubing are pro v'ided, five different sizes of ribs may'be'employed and forth, the tubing is. straightened frorn its circhlar'" form into linear form in one plane of bendlo nly, The: result is that kinking of the tubing prevented, and

the tubing when withdrawn having been straightened out in one plane only is in true linear form. 7 7

t is recommended that the dispensed tubing be cut. off at a distance outside of the guide toflleave enough tubing to be conveniently grasped the next time an amount;

is to be dispensed'f'rom it. The'guide it will'be' noted" provides a support for the tnbing'duringlthetcutthg operation so'that this operation does not end to kink? the These ribs extend lengthwise of the The strip oftensioning material may be made of extruded plastic, paperboard, or even metal. if desired. "The important consid-[ eration'in the tensioning device is'that it be elastic to on the respective tensioning devices; It is found, however; that the spacing of the ribs dbes not have to be exactlyaccordance with the tubing" si'ze 'and if th'e" ribs are sufficiently well defined, one rib' spacing, may" exposed end. I V 1 I-Iaving described my invention,- I claim: 7

' I. A dispenser for copper tubing which is wound upon a reel comprising a stand having a shafttherein to rotatably' receive said reel, said shaft being substantially longer than the width of said-reelwhereb'y' the'reel may move back and-forth longitudinally: of the. shaft, a funnel-shaped guide, means to mount saidfunn'el-shaped guide ahead of and below said reel-such that the'free' end of the tubing maybe stripped from the reel through'saidguide', and

said reel havingan expansible core means thereinjwhich' expands outwardly as the tubing is stripped from the reel; for maintaining said tubing in tightly wound relationship" thereon.

2. The dispenser asset forthfin claim l'in which said expansible' core comprises a strip o'fflexibldmaterialhavinga plurality of ribs on one side therefoflsaidstrip of ii i flexible'material being Wound upon itself at the inside of the roll of copper tubing with the ribs thereon to the. outside, and the'materi'al of the strip being characterized by its'tendency to' spring outwardly thereby' maintaining tension against theinside' of thefr'oll of copperltubing to' press the ribs on the strip against the'innerturns of the roll of tubing'for preventingsaid' of tubing froin pp g one another when said l t turns f g areexposed;

3. A dispenser for copper tubing which is wound upon a reel comprising a stand, means to rotatably mount said reel in said stand, said means permitting said reel to move freely back and forth longitudinally of the central axis of the reel, a funnebshaped guide, and means to mount said guide ahead of said reel and adjacent to a line tangent to the lower edge of said reel such that tubing being stripped from the reel through said guide is unwound from said reel and straightened out in one plane as it passes through the guide by virture of the free side to side movement of the reel.

4. in a dispenser for copper tubing, said tubing being Wound into a roll, a reel for said tubing comprising a core of fixed diameter which is substantially smaller than the inside diameter of the roll of copper tubing, a strip of elastic material wound upon said fixed core, said strip of material being sufficiently wide to substantially fill the space between the sides of said reel and being sufficiently long to be wound around said fixed core a plurality of times, said strip of material having a plurality of longitudinal ribs thereon, and the material of the strip being characterized by its ability to tend to spring outwardly from said fixed core to press said ribs tightly against the inner turns of a roll of copper tubing on the reel, thereby to maintain said inner turns in tightly wound fashion with respect to the reel when said turns are exposed during the dispensing of said tubing.

5. A dispenser for copper tubing wound into a roll, said dispenser comprising a stand, a reel for said roll, means to mount said reel for rotation, said reel having a core of fixed diameter which is substantially smaller than the inside diameter of the roll of copper tubing, a strip of elastic material wound upon said fixed core, said strip of material being sufficiently wide to substantially fill the space between the sides of said reel and being sufilciently long to be wound around said fixed core more than once, said strip of material having a plurality of longitudinal ribs on the outs thereof, and the material of the strip being characterized by its ability to spring outwardly from said fixed core to press said ribs tightly against the inner turns of the roll of copper tubing, thereby to maintain said inner turns in tightly wound fashion with respect to the reel when said turns are exposed during the dispensing of said tubing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,141,610 Little et al Dec. 27, 1938 2,154,440 Crotts Apr. 18, 1939 2,175,574 Schutz Oct. 10, 1939 2,335,179 Feller Nov. 23, 1943 2,548,616 Priestman et al Apr. 10, 1951 

